Latest posts
NATO diplomats could make the twitter leap (with a push by @AlecJRoss)
I had the immense surprise of being invited to a dinner organised tonight by the US Ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder, with Alec Ross, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Innovation senior Advisor. Though the purpose was to talk about social...
Best Wishes and all of that stuff even if the year end is odd
I am only a couple of hours away from driving merrily to the ski slopes and suddenly thought about wishing all of you a Merry “whatever it is you’re partying about at the end of the year”! It’s been a busy year for me…fu...
When Brussels keeps us stuck in hotels for one Conference after the other
It always seems that, as Christmas break draws nearer, all conference organisers decide to set up event after event, just to make sure we end the year spending more time in the lobbies of Brussels hotels than at our office desk (or any other useful p...
So what was the whole #digitalep thing like?
I had the pleasure of being invited to participate in a panel at the Centre-Edelman, in relation to the launch of their new study “The 2010 Capital Staffers Index“, which looks at the use of social media and more traditional lobbying mean...
Time to launch a new blog, but without closing this one!
It’s funny how once you start blogging (even if I am the first to admit that I am a very sporadic blogger), the limits you have set yourself in terms of blogging initially soon start to become burdensome. Now in all fairness, I put very few lim...
So what is your BIG IDEA ?
Before summer break, Commissioner Neelie Kroes in charge of the Digital Agenda challenged industry and more generally all stakeholders to let her know what their BIG IDEA was to further the European Digital Agenda. Basically, it was up to industry, c...
Je blogue, tu blogues, il blogue, etc
Bon, il parait que pour la journée internationale de je ne sais plus quoi (la crevette grise de Zélande? le multilingualisme?) il faut bloguer en utilisant une autre langue que d’habitude. Problème pour la déracinée que je suis: c’es...
So it seems the book is real now
It took me longer than a pregnancy to write it (but then again, I guess pregnancies are handled as a full time occupation whereas writing this book was more of a “nighttime-who-needs-sleep-anyway” adventure), but iLobby.eu is now a “...
Writing a book about lobbying : what a bad idea!
Me to client: “So are you OK with me mentioning you in my acknowledgments as you really helped me go to my limits in lobbying on your behalf”. Client: “Huh, well, I didn’t do much and you know, on this side of the Atlantic, we...
That Euroblog discussion from the perspective of a lobbyist
As always, I am a bit late at reacting to a discussion (well actually, i usually stay out of discussions in the blogging world ’cause that’s what I do as a living), but it has been a fascinating thing to look at two parallel and complemen...
The TESIS Factor of a freelance lobbyist
I have wanted to write this post for some time but even though I kind of knew what I wanted to say, the concept remained slightly vague and fuzzy (and yes, I know, reading policy material all day means I am normally very comfortable with vague &...
OMG: I am a Labrador!
Regardless of the title of this post, please don’t read this thinking I have suddenly become very hairy with a tendency to drool and jump very high whenever someone says something half nice to me. No, this title is all about my job as a lobbyis...
And you thought you knew what the European anthem was?
“Ode to Joy”, you think? Not anymore: joy is a seriously over-rated experience, banks will tell you these days. So I think it’s time for a change, Europe, and I am ready to endorse full rhino army gear to chant along “You̵...
You lobbyists do nothing during summer break, right?
Wrong (and, by the way, I wish it were true!). It is a funny misconception that if you want to have two months of holidays during summer you can either become a teacher (and do something useful for humanity) or become someone hovering around the Euro...
Listening to Wikileaks Julian Assange at the European Parliament
Rarely does a lobbyist listen to someone and feel utterly impressed, no strings or cautious thoughts attached…Or at least, not an “old rot” like me…But today, just for a few minutes, I felt like “not all was lost”&...
Tale of an Ordinary Week
People probably think the week of a lobbyist is an endless sequence of meetings with important people discussing important issues, followed by cocktails with salmon-rich buffets, and wining & dining of even more important people. It’s proba...
Why a crisis in Belgium makes me shudder for my daily life
Let me start by reassuring you: I am not shuddering out of some inane fear that Belgium will be split off, the tanks going down Avenue de Tervuren whilst nostalgics of the “One Belgium” concept reunite on Place Luxembourg, the new Tian An...
The wonderful art of eloquent vagueness in Europe
After fifteen years in Brussels, I am still amazed about the ability of EU politicians and civil servants writing their speeches or consultation papers at saying nothing, but at length! I had never been able to pinpoint the exact expression covering...
Why Brussels needs its Onion, imho
I like writing imho, as people using that expression are generally very unlikely to have a humble bone in their body but at least, they have an opinion! People think that Brussels is this bubble far removed from reality where every legislative act...
Happy Woman s Day! Is it just me or does that sound wrong?
First: for those who hadn’t spotted it yet: this rhino is a “she”. So, I basically have a sound knowledge of what it means being a woman, stemming from practical experience ranging over…well, many years! On Twitter, someone su...
